If that box is complete it will have two recordings of Wagner's Ring, one being of a Broadcast series from RAI [from the Amazon website]: Furtwängler's 1953 Ring cycle, recorded "live" in the RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana) studios, one act at a time, for broadcast purposes, is remastered here from the original tapes, in contrast to vinyl pressings used for the original 1972 EMI LP release. The noted Wagnerian scholar Deryck Cooke best characterized the great conductor's view of this magnum opus as a "stark, heavy, brooding work, a profound tragedy set in a primitive world of ancient Teutonic gods and heroes, to whom every action and event is of the utmost existential importance." Not even the boxy sonics or less-than-world-class RAI wind and brass sections diminish the impact of Furtwängler's gripping leadership. Even when tempos appear unusually slow, the conductor's rhythmic underpinning and sixth sense for sustaining long lines keep the dramatic intensity afloat. While Furtwängler's livelier 1950 La Scala Ring boasts better orchestral playing, his RAI Ring is more consistently cast. Standouts include Windgassen's expansive Siegmund, Mödl's attentive Brünnhilde, Patzak's truly sung (as opposed to cackled) Mime, Suthaus's virile Siegfried, Jurinac's ruby-tinged Gutrune, and Greindl's best-vocalized Hagen extant. A banded synopsis is included in lieu of texts. --Jed Distler
As someone who is basking in the electronic renditions of Debussy and Mussorgsky - and now Bach I'm wondering what are essential pure classical albums I need to listen to. I listen to many records that either have a huge classical bent like early Renaissance or The Enid, original compositions by Klaus Schulze which takes from many of the great composers such as Wagner, and more recently the versions of pure classics made with synths - Snowflakes are Dancing, Pictures at an Exhibition by Tomita, Switched-On albums by Wendy Carlos, stuff like that. I'm on the absolute fringe of listening to pure classical, but... who does it best? What are the best albums I can find that recreate the original pieces faithfully as possible?
Glenn Gould happened to be crazy for S.O.B., has a similar clarity of line. You should look into Gould's "A State of Wonder", with both of Glenn Gould's recordings of Bach's Goldberg Variations. There's megaboxes of Trevor Pinnock's recordings of Bach's concerti and other works for larger instrumental ensemble. The SACD [still around for reasonable money] of Fritz Reiner/Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing "Pictures At An Exhibition" is paired itj similar works, has awesome audio engineering.
Solti was definitely an opera conductor and well-known for his Wagner operas. I have his Wagner Ring on Decca, which is still in shrinkwrap.
I have Solti's Ring on first label vinyl, wish I had kept the CD box, it's hard work turning after each side because of the auto changer way of numbering the records.
"Wagner's music is better than it sounds." --Bill Nye, quoted with approval by (and often erroneously attributed to) Mark Twain "If they were Italians, the would already have seven children, but they're Germans, so they're still talking."--Arturo Toscanini, at a rehearsal for Act II of Tristan und Isolde
IIRC, the only Solti's Wagner opera on LP I own is Tannhäuser and it is a London instead of a Decca box Yeah, I hate those record sequencing based on auto changer.
Pergolesi - La Serva Padrona, don't have a cover for this but Scotto is the soprano and Fasano is conducting.
Now playing the following CD from my baroque collection featuring the AAM and the very talented Ms. Podger for a third listen ...
It's about ten minutes from my place, I do regular lunchtime concerts that are amazingly reasonable with top names.
This is an excellent live recording and Ms Podger was superb. It is so quiet and only the applause at the end of each work reminds me that this is a live recording ... The real highlight of this recording is the JS Bach Concerto for Two Violins with Rachel Podger and Pavlo Beznosiuk. The level of virtuosity is astounding ...
I've only been to one opera in my life and that was in Houston circa 1985 when a family friend of my gf had season tickets and offered them to her. We went, I slept (only a little bit a tually) and was awakened by nudity (simulated) and much dancing around. It was bizarre. Oh yeah, the opera was Phillip Glass' Ahknaten.
